Brewed up a batch today, using hop pellets in a cheesecloth hop bag (0.5 oz Cascade). Saw the bag broke when removing hop bags. Wort was very cloudy, as you would expect. Will this settle out in the primary or secondary? If not, how can I get this to precipitate? Any advice would be appreciated.

surferjoe13 wrote:Brewed up a batch today, using hop pellets in a cheesecloth hop bag (0.5 oz Cascade). Saw the bag broke when removing hop bags. Wort was very cloudy, as you would expect. Will this settle out in the primary or secondary? If not, how can I get this to precipitate? Any advice would be appreciated.

I've brewed many batches that turned out great using hop pellets without a hop bag. To reduce the amount of trub and hop particulate that ends up in the primary I allow the wort to settle covered for a while after chilling and then siphon off the top. Since the wort is pitching temp it is necessary to use care when handling it so as to avoid contamination.

Some have used a technique called whirlpooling to gather the particulates in the boil kettle to the center. Stir the wort in a circular motion which causes the trub and hops to form a cone with its peak in the center of the pot. Then the wort can be siphoned from the side of the kettle leaving much of the trub behind.

The results of these techniques can be improved by using finings or Irish Moss during the boil. These ingredients help precipitate proteins during the cold break resulting in clearer beer.